lobbyist

noun

lob·​by·​ist ˈlä-bē-ist 

plural lobbyists

: one who conducts activities aimed at influencing or swaying public officials and especially members of a legislative body on legislation : a person engaged in lobbying public officials

The new rule says that if you were a registered lobbyist in the past two years, you can't work for the administration on any issue you touched. After you leave government, you can't lobby the administration at all.

—Jacob Weisberg

Because so many lobbyists have past experience on Capitol Hill, they usually have personal ties both to members of congress and to their key staffers, who vet and prioritize the earmark requests.

—Ken Silverstein

Examples of lobbyist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Suarez is permitted to accept such gifts as long as they are disclosed, as this gift was, and the giver is not a city lobbyist. —Miami Herald, 7 Nov. 2025

Childhood Kennedy was born in 1936, to Anthony James Kennedy, a lawyer and lobbyist, and Gladys McLeod Kennedy, a teacher who also had worked as an aide at the Capitol. —Sacbee.com, 3 Nov. 2025

China, Indonesia, and other Asian countries are committing to massive increases in solar and wind adoption, and renewable energy lobbyists will be present in force in Brazil to make their case to government officials there. —Tim McDonnell, semafor.com, 30 Oct. 2025

Bank lobbyists say these terminals being closed to penny deposits is exacerbating the penny shortage, because parts of the country that may have some surplus pennies are unable to get those pennies to parts of country with shortages. —Ken Sweet, Fortune, 30 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1842, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for lobbyist

• hobbyist